A method for operating a bus system, in particular a CAN bus, is described in DE 10 2009 026 995 A1. The bus system may be connected to multiple stations. A transmitted message includes an identifier, a certain identifier (e.g., IDENT2) being permitted for use by only one single station at any time. Each of the stations compares the identifier of a transmitted message to the identifiers it uses itself (e.g., IDENT2). If there is a match, an error message is generated.